Items
Subject is exactly
Transportation
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2020-11-21
Food Bank Lines
During the COVID-19 pandemic there were food lines in many metro cities. One city in particular that had long lines was Dallas, Texas. -
2020-11-20
My experience with airplane travel
Flying during Covid I have needed to fly for family emergencies four different times since the pandemic began. The first time I felt uneasy but the fact that they seated us with an empty seat between each person and the requirement of face masks made me feel more comfortable. The second flight, however, was crowded with a woman sitting right next to me and turning her fact to talk to me 6 inches away – without her mask on!!!! That was nerve racking. But the last two flights were spaced out and everyone wore a mask. EXCEPT – the irony is that when they pass out the snack bags everyone on the plane removes their mask at the same time to eat. I simply choose to hold off on eating my snack bag for a half hour and wait until I see that people are done eating. There hasn’t been a big outbreak traced back to airplanes so I will continue to fly when my aging parents need help. And to keep others safe, each time I return from a trip, I quarantine and get tested. -
2020-05-03
" The man feeding a remote Alaska town with a Costco card and a ship " - The Hustle
The advent of COVID-19 has made it more difficult for isolated, rural communities to maintain access to basic necessities such as food, water, and personal care products. In an article for the Hustle, journalist Zachary Crokett recounts the story of a Gustavus, Alaska grocer named Toshua Parker, who has taken it upon himself to supply the needs of his fellow townspeople in a time of crisis. Through the use of a shipping freighter, business connections, and a trusty Costco membership card, Parker has mostly succeeded in supplying the community's consumer needs and has made his business, Toshco, an economic pillar of Gustavus. The success of Parker's small, rural business in the face of COVID-19, according to Crockett, is representative of a "renaissance" of rural businesses, which are an important component of supplying a town's consumer needs. Without these businesses, isolated rural communities such as Gustavus would have a harder time enduring the pandemic relative to communities with robust economic centers. -
2020-07-22
Not Wanting to Wear a Mask During a Pandemic
HIST30060: Making History From 22nd July 2020, it became compulsory in Victoria for everyone to wear a properly-fitted face mask when out in public. This was indeed commonsense for a lot of people, many in the streets already starting to wear face coverings before the official ruling came into place. But just because it’s commonsense does not mean it is at all easy or comfortable or that it will not be the cause of what is now known as ‘mascne’. At first, the adrenaline rush of it all meant that wearing a mask felt kind of cool, and made everyone look like a spy, or at least made you feel like one. And it was quite entertaining to see people taking it all the way with their creative face coverings. But after a while, it was kind of annoying to put on a mask to take out your rubbish, made afternoon walks a bit more sweaty on the face (and noisy with the sound of your own muffled breath from being puffed, also caused by the reduction in exercise during quarantine). But with all the minor inconveniences of wearing a mask during a pandemic, you are mostly thankful it’s compulsory in your city, especially when someone on the bus coughs. -
2020-10
An early return home
HIST30060 These images demonsrtate the ways that people online and in charge of covid responses have responded to the pandemic. These are all demonstrations of how I have been impacted by the pandemic, by having to leave my exchange, and by my university having been moved entirely online. -
2020-07-15
Travel in the Age of Covid-19
If you would like to know why I was travelling, please see this journal: https://covid-19archive.org/s/archive/item/30217 Travelling at the best of times can induce stress and anxiety. In the times of Covid-19, it is a whole different experience. I am dropped off at Melbourne Tullamarine Airport. The departure screen, usually filled with flight information, now only has a handful of flights on display. Incoming flights into Melbourne have been suspended entirely. My destination is Bahrain via Dubai International Airport. Emirates Airlines EK409 is flying at about a third of its capacity (the Melbourne-Dubai route is, at normal times, a very popular one and flights are usually almost full). The extra room is welcome, allowing many travellers to lay down and enjoy a little comfort in these uncomfortable times. Masks as well as gloves are required throughout the flight. A hygiene kit is provided. I sleep for most of the flight. When I arrive in Dubai, sitting in the terminal building waiting for my connection (which is in 10 hours because of reduced flights frequency), and as a way of passing the time, I join one of my online University classes. Three months later, in October 2020, when this journal was written, travel is still a very complicated affair. This is the worst crisis to hit the industry since the attacks of September the 11th 2001. I will not take travel for granted ever again. This reflection was submitted as part of the HIST30060 Making History project at the University of Melbourne. -
2020-06-11
Life Continues
This is important because even though we are in the midst of a pandemic and many adults feel that their lives have come to a standstill, many younger people are still trying to experience the major young adult milestones that we all got to experience in normal times. -
2020-11-04
American Airlines Clean Commitment
This video was sent via email from American Airlines, it explains how wearing masks, forward-facing seats, and filtration systems help keep passengers safe on airplanes. There's no mention of actually cleaning the planes, just the assurance that flying during a pandemic is relatively safe. -
2020-10-29
Airlines Conduct Tests to Prove that COVID-19 Spread is not High in Airplanes
United Airlines, Boeing and the Defense Department conducted tests to gauge the risk of getting infected with the coronavirus on a plane. They used a mannequin that would use a spray to stimulate a cough. They concluded that the spread of infection is not high. However, the test failed to test many other factors, such as the patient turning their head to the side to cough, coughing while walking around the cabin, and other common locomotions of airplane passengers. Thus, the test was inconclusive, and seems like a desperate effort for the airline companies to get their customers back. -
2020-10-30
Cruise I : Fillipinos
I remember the announcement in the crew area. All internationals were to go to HR. With international borders closing the cruise ship needed to send all the internationals home. Both my roommates were international, one from Colombia and one from the Philippines. It was an incredibly hectic time, something 20-30 year veterans of the cruise industry never experienced. Being sent home before a contract was finished due to an operational shutdown. The Filipinos were the blood of the ship. Nearly every leadership position in management was held by one. So when the announcement was made there were a lot of questions as to how the ship would continue to operate. Regardless however the company needed to get these people home before they had an even bigger problem on their hand. I wonder if they are doing okay. Since cruise ships are down, they must all still be unemployed. The international lines don't really have many workers' rights, so if you are unemployed you don't get paid. I hope they are able to sort things out. -
2020-10-28
混雑戻り感染懸念も・・・鉄道の換気を検証 結果は?(2020年10月28日) - Concerns about returning to crowded situation ... Verifying railway ventilation What are the results? (October 28, 2020)
Japan is the country that uses public transportation a lot compared to the United States. I personally also commuted to school with train for more than 10 years and it is normal to use public transport to commute and to get anywhere rather than your own car. Parking on streets is very hard to find and all parking lots are very expensive, especially in downtown areas. It is also just more convenient to use public transport because Japan is one of the countries that trains/bus are never late and come on time. This news is really important because infection can easily happen in trains if it is not ventilated properly and people are not taking distances. However, Japan is very rigid on rules about time and a lot of workers have to get to work on certain time, which causes crowds on trains/bus at certain time. 最近、また列車が混んできたなと感じることが増えてきました。気になるのは車両の中の換気です。ある研究データが出てきました。 シミュレーションの結果は意外なものでした。一時はガラガラだった列車も、いつの間にかコロナ前の混雑が戻りつつあります。気になるのは感染リスクです。混み具合によって車内の空気の流れはどのように変化するのか・・・。 鉄道総合技術研究所は、この「換気」の問題に焦点を絞り、シミュレーションを実施しました。例えば乗客ゼロの状態と、乗客が増えて立っている人ですべてのつり革が埋まっている乗車率100%の状態を比べると、換気の効率にどのような違いが出るのか・・・。 条件は6カ所の窓を10センチ程度開け、時速70キロで走行した場合です。結果、乗車率ゼロでも乗車率100%でも換気効率に大きな違いは出ませんでした。 これは乗客が増えると、その分、車内の空気の体積が減るため。乗客がいないと5.3分に1回のペースで車内の空気が入れ替わりますが、乗車率100%だと4.5分。むしろ早まることが分かりました。ちなみに山手線の混み具合はコロナの影響が出る直前の2月初旬を「100」とした場合、5月に38%まで落ち込んだものの、その後、徐々に回復し、先月は65%まで戻しています。 今回のシミュレーションでは乗客が増えても空気の流れ自体にはさほど悪い影響がないことが分かりました。ただし、乗客が増えることによって不特定多数と接近してしまうなどのリスクは今回の計算には含まれていません。 Recently, I feel that the trains are getting crowded again. What is concerning is the ventilation inside the vehicle. Some research data came out. The result of the simulation was surprising. The train, which was once rattled, is returning to congestion in front of Corona. What is concerning is the risk of infection. How does the air flow inside the car change depending on how crowded it is? The Railway Technical Research Institute focused on this "ventilation" problem and conducted a simulation. For example, if you compare the state of zero passengers with the state of 100% occupancy rate where all the holding straps are filled with people standing with more passengers, what kind of difference will there be in ventilation efficiency? The condition is when 6 windows are opened about 10 cm and the vehicle travels at 70 km / h. As a result, there was no big difference in ventilation efficiency between zero occupancy rate and 100% occupancy rate. This is because the volume of air inside the car decreases as the number of passengers increases. If there are no passengers, the air inside the car changes at a pace of once every 5.3 minutes, but if the occupancy rate is 100%, it takes 4.5 minutes. It turned out to be rather quick. By the way, if the congestion level of the Yamanote Line is set to "100" in early February just before the influence of the corona, it dropped to 38% in May, but then gradually recovered and returned to 65% last month. .. In this simulation, it was found that even if the number of passengers increased, the air flow itself was not so badly affected. However, the risk of approaching an unspecified number of passengers due to an increase in passengers is not included in this calculation. -
2020-03-13
The First Bomb Dropped
I was on exchange in Edinburgh in the first half of 2020, and was forced to return home early because of COVID-19. These messages show 3 of my friends announcing in a Facebook group chat that they were heading home to Austria, which came as a huge surprise to the rest of us in the group. This was a sad, confusing, disorienting moment, which these messages demonstrate. HIST30060 -
2020-10-20
The Empty Strip
This picture was taken while my family and I were driving on the empty strip. It was such an eerie feeling that there was no people on the streets and barely any cars. All of the signs said something along the lines of stay safe, we’ll be back soon. In the picture you can see that the sign says “Stay safe and we’ll get through this together”. All the casinos were closed because the government had to take leadership and try to prevent the spread of corona. -
2020-10-14
Driving to Apartment
The audio recording are the sounds of my car and the cars around me as I drive home after another day at work on Dover AFB. I could explain and explore all the things that COVID impacted on the base as well as in regards to deployments, missions, and military/civilian personnel, but that will have to be a separate COVID story for another time. As for my car ride, the audio highlights one of the most confusing things about human behavior for me during the pandemic. Where was everyone going? Majority of businesses were closed. Visitation to family and friends were greatly discouraged. The beaches were closed. All the states around us were closing their borders. Yet, people were driving all about the roads like the COVID wasn’t going to stop them from being somewhere. Don’t get me wrong, the base was still open and I was still going to work. Also, a good portion of the people living in or around Dover were military or military families. Still, traffic around me didn’t ever seem to really slow down or make sense connection to the pandemic. In fact, the closer you got to the base, the worse the traffic became because the base had closed all their gates but one. This meant that everyone who needed to be on base to work or go to medical (not much was open at the start of COVID and things are slowly working their ways back to somewhat “normal” hours) had to go through a singular gate. I would sit in my car for almost an hour, listening to my music and the music of the cars around me as I waited impatiently for my wheels to a spin a few more inches forward. In some ways, this audio clip reveals something special about the history of the pandemic. The audio and my story attached to it showcases not only the human nature to adapt, but also humanity’s resiliency to sustain a way of life. At the same time, pandemic unveils our values and driving force. For instance, were those driving around the pandemic going to work for monetary value? Were they driving to see loved ones through a window? Maybe they were driving just to have a purpose? Or they just trying to escape the confines of the sanctuary of their home? Was it about politics? This also brings about the question of fear. Fear of being alone. Fear of confinement. Fear of death. Fear of boredom. Fear of lost freedom. -
2020-03-11
COVID Response Team Awaits the New Day
When the outbreak first began back in February and at the beginning of March, I was a waitress at the Walnut Creek Marriott experiencing cutbacks in my service to others as well as in the number of guests received at my hotel. However, the Federal Government sent a team of specialists from the CDC to Walnut Creek, CA in order to help treat patients stuck in quarantine on the Grand Princess Cruise Liner. At the time, people were not being allowed off the ship due to the viral concerns, and the team treated most if not all their patients at Travis Air Force Base. These doctors worked relentlessly long hours and would leave at the very start of the day and return so very wiped out. I continued to serve this group until I was laid off from the company in mid April -
2020-07-01
Helping the Economy
Early on in the pandemic, I began to notice big companies, particularly car companies getting creative with their sales strategies. Understandably, businesses large and small were seeking creative ways to get people to continue to purchase goods despite the looming economic downturn. Volkswagen's ad to purchase a new car at a sale of 0% APR for 5 years via Volkswagen Credit particularly grabbed my attention because I hadn't seen a car deal, perhaps ever, with an offer that good. It struck me that, here was a company with a very long history and therefore infrastructure, willing to advertise to massive audiences a sale that was essentially messaging that they needed help. Interestingly, it also began at nearly the beginning of the pandemic, and it is still running. From a personal standpoint, it may have also grabbed my attention because we happened to have a Volkswagen that we purchased five years ago, that we were able to pay off during this time and buy a new model using this offer. -
2020-10-11
Studying Abroad During A Pandemic
The end of January was coming closer and closer. Soon, I would be exchanging harsh Wisconsin winters for the rainy winters of London, England. The year prior, I had been there on a two-week study abroad trip learning about art. This time I’d be spending four months living in the International Student House and going to university there. By the time we left on the plane, there were barely whispers of a possible outbreak of a virus across the globe. We didn’t hear much more about it until the end of March. It was everywhere on the news, and we began to receive emails from our university in the States that we might get pulled from our program. We hoped that wouldn’t be the case. The city of London was seemingly normal up until we left. One major change happened with the tube. It was decided that in order to attempt to slow the spread of the pandemic across the city, certain tube lines would close down. This, in fact, had the opposite effect as it caused more and more people to cram themselves into rail cars in order to get to work or to school on time. We eventually received an email from our home university stating we would have a weekend to gather out things and then fly out early the next week. In fact, that weekend I was supposed to fly to Krakow, Poland on a short trip. I stayed back because I had a sinking feeling that something like this would happen. Crazy enough, if I would have gone, I would have been stuck in Poland--my flight back to London was canceled because due to the pandemic. We left a city scrambling to collect toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and masks and returned home to find a similar state of affairs in Wisconsin. We had heard about how horrendous the lines at customs were in the United States airports that were still open, with some having to stand and wait six to eight hours to make it through. When we arrived, it was impossible to adequately socially distance while we waited to get our temperatures checked and then be interviewed by the TSA about where we were coming from. By the time we had arrived, the process of going through customs had become much smoother--we only waited for about an hour. After returning home, we had to self-quarantine for two weeks. We had to finish our university term online, much like the students back overseas who went online after the Easter holiday. It was an odd thing to finish up my semester abroad in London from my home in Southwest Wisconsin. After ruminating about it for weeks, I thought to myself that I was incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to live and study in London for two months and even though our trip got cut short, I still had an amazing experience and got to meet some really wonderful people during my time there. -
2020-10-08
How The Pandemic Changed My Life For The Better
Learning how to ride a bike so I can go outside and exercise and be active. It shows I learned something new during the pandemic. -
2020-10-07
マスクめぐり機内で乱闘 フェースシールドは着用(2020年10月7日) - Brawl on the plane about the mask Wearing the face shield (October 7, 2020)
This is a news where on an airplane, a fight happened because a man was wearing a face shield, but not a mask. I would think wearing a face shield is better than nothing, but not enough and for himself and others on the plane, the man should have worn a mask. マスクの着用を巡ってまた、乱闘騒ぎです。 アメリカのアリゾナ州からユタ州に向かっていたLCC(格安航空)の旅客機の中で2人の乗客がもみ合っています。2人はマスクの着用を巡って口論となり、その後、取っ組み合いのけんかになったということです。たまたま機内に乗り合わせた警察官が仲裁に入ったため、大事には至りませんでした。この航空会社では乗客に常にマスクの着用が義務付けられていますが、騒ぎを起こした乗客はフェースシールドを着用していたもののマスクをしておらず、トラブルになったとみられています。 There is another brawl over wearing a mask. Two passengers had a conflict on an LCC (low-cost carrier) airliner heading from Arizona to Utah in the United States. The two argued over wearing a mask, and then became a brawl. A police officer who happened to be on the airplane came in between and calmed down the matter. The airline requires all passengers to wear masks at all times, but it is believed that the passenger was involved in the fight because he wore face shields but not a mask under the face shield. -
2020-10-07
Covid on a Cruise Ship!
It was the week before spring break and I was gearing up for a three day cruise with friends. I want to preface this by saying I am a teacher and this spring break was much needed after a rough semester. Anyways! The pandemic had started but it was only in China and Italy. We didn’t really know how rapidly it would spread. In past outbreaks of viruses they usually were contained in a few areas and didn’t rapidly spread. It felt like when we got on the boat it was in Europe and when we got off three days later it was in the US. There was over 100 friends there on the boat and I know a total of 70 of us got sick. Everyone was mostly fine and got over it in a couple of days. I was sick for three weeks. All the symptoms except I couldn’t breathe and that was the absolute worst. I don’t have great lungs anyways- I can thank multiple rounds of bronchitis for that. Anyway- there was days when I struggled to breathe. If I didn’t have certain medications to help, I think it would have been worse. Not deadly, but incredibly shallowed breathing. However, a month went by and then I started feeling great. I had residual burning in my lungs from when I was trying to heal and it took my body awhile to get back to where it was. A few short weeks after I was better, I noticed my body was having a really hard time doing anything without feeling I was having a heart attack. I got my blood work done and realized that my thyroid, vitamin D levels, hormones, and vitamin B levels were almost none existent. It’s been months now but after regulating them- I have never felt better. There were news reports that came out recently that attested people’s vitamin d levels that were low had stronger cases of Covid-19. After a lot of studying, I am a believer that if our bodies aren’t well, we can’t fight off viruses and bacteria’s as well as we think we should be able too. Our thyroid is the stabler for everything that functions in our bodies. My immune system was shot when I got covid and I believe whole heartedly that my body couldn’t fight it because it didn’t have the strength too. It is so important that we take a hard look at our health and recognize we can’t be reliant on pills and medicines if we as a people aren’t healthy. -
2020-10-05
The New York Times-- As Trump Seeks to Project Strength, Doctors Disclose Alarming Episodes
This article is important because it shows that the president during the COVID-19 pandemic was not smart and didn’t take it seriously. -
2020-10-01
The Train!
I've lived in my current residence for nearly a year and a half now. Since moving in, every night and sometimes throughout the day, I hear and feel the train moving past my house. The tracks are just behind the alley that backs up to my backyard. I spent a lot of time in my backyard, but until the pandemic took over I never actually saw the train. One night in October 2019, my friends and I sat in my backyard waiting for the train to come and it never did. I don't think I ever saw it because when it would come during the day I would be at either work or school and I would not spend too much time in my backyard at night. Now I see it all the time. I still remember seeing it pass for the first time and thinking "Wow! It's literally right there." Just another funny thing I would have never noticed. -
2020-07
America's Response to Covid
I decided to put this photo and caption in because I believe it is a great representation of the United States during the pandemic. -
2020-06-01
The Decision and the Opportunity
Months had gone by during the Covid 19 pandemic and for college students like myself, it began to take a toll on me mentally. It wasn't easy to say the least to stay at home and start remote learning. It was even harder being a journalism major and having to cover what was routine press conferences about death and despair ravaging New York City. But as the semester came to an end , frustration began to mount for me as there seemed to be no end to this nightmare. I grew tired of being at home day after day with no option but to stay inside. I saw many of my peers take advantage of the time being in lockdown to make some extra money. That was motivation enough to get against my parents wishes in hopes to get ahead when all this was over. The job was simple -- make grocery deliveries to apartments in the lower east side. The streets were completely empty , something out of a horror film where you’re the last person on earth. The only problem was , my mom was an essential worker and she saw first hand what covid did to people and their loved ones around them. Also my brother being a diabetic meant he was more susceptible to covid which I was putting all that risk knowing I would be out there in the city and unknowingly bringing back covid into my house. It finally came time to tell my family the plan I had and they were not happy to say the least. My mom was furious of the thought that I would go ahead and get a job during a pandemic -- And although he didn't show it , I knew my brother shared the same feelings. But I didn’t let it stop me and the next day , I went to work. On my way there , It was rough seeing the city in the shape that it was. People wearing masks with depression and stress written all over their faces , taking extra precautions every 5 minutes dousing their hands in hand sanitizer . It made me realize that although I would want to be in the best shape possible financially , I realized that my health is way more important and that I let greed control my way of thinking. I had made it to the supermarket and as I approached my supervisor , I told him that I could not put my family at risk for this and that I’m not going to be working. He understood my decision and felt that if I could not do it , then there would be no problem. As I got home , I apologized to my family for potentially putting their health at risk. This pandemic has taught me patience to say the least , there are more important things at the moment than money and sometimes things must take a backseat in order to fully flourish in the future. -
2020-09-25
Reflections on COVID-19 - A Certified Pharmacy Technicians Perspective
A letter written by me to describe my experience with COVID-19 -
2020-04
Hope Is All We Have
Similar to many other Americans, the difficult months of March and April provoked a feeling of fear of what is to become when we return to “normalcy” in me. I still remember watching news channels constantly breaking the news of hospitals being overcrowded and insufficient storage of bodies making me terrified. The non-stop sirens were a reminder of the heart-wrenching situation we were living in every moment. I realize that we may never return to normal again. As we slowly return to our respective workplaces and institutions, I expect a more cautious attitude in New Yorkers. Some changes include less crowded trains and buses, fewer social gatherings, and less physical contact. Previously, crowdedness and liveliness were the essence of New York City but I do not expect this to remain to the same extent now. However, one positive change I expect in people is a kinder and compassionate attitude towards one another. These few months of quarantine have taught us to appreciate all that we have more. I expect New York City to develop a greater community outreach with New Yorkers looking out for one another. Having been one of the hardest hit cities in the world, we will evidently have more guidelines and safety precautions in effect once we return which will serve as a reminder of the battle that we have faced. I believe that each life we lose will soften the hearts of New Yorkers and unite us in our strength to overcome. When we look back upon this crisis, we will remember the frustration of being restricted to our homes, the fear of hearing the news of a lost loved one, and the anticipation of the good news of a treatment. -
2020-09-24
Doctor Appointment, COVID- 19, and the MTA
During this Pandemic I have noticed how hard it is to travel in the city. In the beginning my doctor appointments were online and were more uncomfortable than being there in person. Going there in person is even more tricky since they can not let anyone go in to their offices .what is even worse is the traveling to the doctors appointments. I haven't really used the train in such a long time but since my doctors was in Manhattan I had to go on the train. Being in a compact space with people in a not really well ventilated area in a pandemic is not the safest things to do. I feel like COVID has caused me to have new anxiety because I have tried my best to stay away from people. Even before I got on the train my stomach was turning as if I was walking into new territory. I am Brooklyn born and have basically traveled by train everyday and now the idea of going into one was making me feel uneasy. I have also noticed that there were not a lot of people that were scared on the train while I tried to breathe through two masks people were not even wearing them properly . I have noticed that the MTA has put in the new penalty for people that do not wear a mask they will be fined $50, but to be honest it there was a few people in most of the subway stations that I was on with no masks and yet no fines were being placed. Not only was I scared of COVID but there has been a rise of violence in Stations and that scared me even more. Coronavirus has really changed the way that I view traveling when it comes to trains and buses and yet in New York City public transportation is the only way mode of transportation there is to get from one place to another effectively . -
2020-04-26
Porsche Joy Ride
“I was coming back after giving food packets to the people in need. I showed them my pass but they abused me and asked me to do sit-ups“. -
2020
Car life of Corona
When Covid-19 started to gain cases in the Pittsburgh and surrounding area the car scene began to postpone and cancel meets. With no official meets being held, pop-up meets became the new normal. Which consisted of a post being made or hearing from word of mouth about a place a meet would be held only a few days before it would happen. Most enthusiasts jumped at the opportunity to attend these events and would attend. Although it was considered a meet everyone knew what was happening with the virus and maintained social distancing and enjoyed walking around and looking at other cars that were attending. Due to social distance and trying to avoid contact with others the commonality of cruises arose as well which people would meet at a set location and then drive in a group to another location typically on roads that are enjoyable to drive on. With the car community changing around this virus it allowed everyone who is a part of it to remain safe while still doing something they love. From the safety of their own vehicles’ car enthusiasts have and still continue to over come the pandemic in a safe and enjoyable way. Although the Covid-19 pandemic changed many things in the world the way it effected the car scene is not considered completely terrible. It created a new way car enthusiasts can interact and will enjoy their passion -
2020-04
The impact COVID-19 had on my mental and emotional health.
My experience throughout this unexpected pandemic took a toll on my state of mental and emotional health. When I first found out about how quick this virus was spreading throughout our city, schools were still not closed officially and I was still traveling on public transportation to work. When taking public transportation, due to the lack of masks, I had to wear a scarf around my face because that was the only way I could think of protecting myself. I was anxious all the time, but most especially on the train and bus rides, my anxiety would get the best of me, so much that at times I felt like I had to hold my breath so that I can minimize my exposure to contracting this virus. Once things started getting really bad and schools and non essential jobs finally shut down, it was a slight relief. Switching from in person lectures to virtual learning was not as easy as I had thought it would be. I was now not only anxious and worried because of this pandemic and the health of myself and my loved ones but also because I was having a hard time trying to adapt to a different style of learning. I was taking two science courses, both biology and chemistry which were not the easiest topics for me. To prevent us from "cheating" professors had made the exams much harder which was another stressor. Throughout the spring semester I was staying up really late at night trying to study in every way possible so that I would do well on my upcoming exams. Whenever I had the time to sleep I just couldn't because my anxiety wouldn't let me. I would have never imagined this getting so bad, I thought maybe with quarantining we would have it under control but unfortunately this virus is still on going and who knows when we'll get back to what was considered normal. -
2020-03-06
The Peruvian Experience
So I am down in Peru with three fellow students from Wesleyan University. We are just beginning our spring break, and had recently united in Lima before flying together to Cusco the next morning. Our plan was ambitious, chaotic, and irresponsible in hindsight; we had decided to hike the Salkantay Trek from Soraypampa to Aguas Calientes. The evening of our arrival, we were out to dinner when at 9 pm, my friend receives an alarming text from his mother stating that the Salkantay Trek was closed because of a historic mudslide that had decimated the entire trail below the highest pass. This slide sent at least 12 to their death (many remain missing today) while simultaneously displacing 430 families living in the valley. At the time, we were unaware of these disturbing statistics and decided to find a tourist agency that would perhaps guide us part of the way. At 10 pm that evening, we located a random tourist shop that was lightly populated by two employees in the backroom of a jumbled building of interior storefronts. They assured us that not only is the trek impassible at multiple points, but that the Peruvian government was preventing travelers from setting out on the trail. We offered to pay a guide to take us even part of the way, but they turned our proposal down. They did, however, secure us seats on a bus leaving at 5 am the next morning to Soraypampa where tourists engrossed themselves in a heavily assisted day-hike to Lake Humantay. We waiting in the darkness of the Plaza de Armas while bus after bus went to various other locations around Cusco. We dizzily wavered around due to the 11,000 feet of altitude gain that we had assumed less than 24 hours ago until a bus finally came to pick us up. From there, we dangerously (or so we thought at the time) drove through one-lane mountain roads in a loaded bus for nearly five hours. At last, we unloaded and grabbed our packs. We were the only backpackers in sight, and we planned on doing this trek without guidance both geographically and physically. As the rest of the hikers walked packless with sticks to the lake, we lagged behind, destroyed by the sudden difficulty of what was supposed to be an easy first day of trekking. Even with mouths full of coca leaves, two of us required sips of the small oxygen canister we picked up the day before. Our bodies pulsed with symptoms of altitude sickness, but we pressed on. No other view could have made me smile as widely as that of glacial Lake Humantay as we crested the final ascent. At 14,500 feet of altitude, we laughed at the fantastic beauty before us. We had arrived in the early afternoon, and found ourselves almost totally alone beside this pool in the Andes Mountains. Our descent was horrible. Pulsing again were headaches, fatigue, shortness of breath, and swelled joints. In our divergence from the path most traveled, we entered a trail of horse, cow, and llama (domesticated guanaco as we kept on) crap; an uncomfortable rain began to fall, and we found ourselves walking through a mountain feed mist. Within all of our heads was the terrible thought of setting up camp in the rain. Our level of exhaustion was overly evident to any onlooker (there was no one), but as the rain let up and our camp became established, moods lifted and excitement spiked. We were observing the most beautiful sunset display any of us had ever seen. The sun, setting at around 4:00 pm because of the extreme prominence of the surrounding mountains, swirled its orange and pink on the snow-covered top of Mount Salkantay almost as a kind of sorbet is presented at an ice-cream shop. Our wide smiles disappeared as a frigid wind whipped through the valley that we were so exposedly staying in. Dinner in the dark was followed by an unmatched view of eye-contracting stars as we retreated to the chilled interior of our tents. Altitude sickness plagued any chance of a good night's sleep, and we awoke frozen and in a misty cloud. It was this day that we would trek through the Salkantay Pass at 15,220 feet of altitude. Endless switchbacks defined the first half of the day. We toiled over each step, our packs dragging each attempt to press on. After a few hours of extreme exertion and chill, we passed through the highest point of the trek. Once the clouds parted, an incredible view of the mudslide's decimation shocked us into the reality of our unguided trek. The slide refigured the landscape with a melting expanse of boulders climbing both sides of the valley and completely filling in the previous location of the Salkantay Lake. Armed with a compass and an enthusiastic "we can't turn back now" mindset, our trek took us through a few miles of trailless movement into the valley ahead. The rest of this day wasn't by any means forgiving. Passing through a newly abandoned town, over a sea of boudlers and deep, wet sand, and into the jungle valley brought set after set of challenges. Towards hour 11 of the day's hiking, a thunderstorm burdened the final steps we had to take. The valley was steep, and beneath us crept a barren section of forest where the river washed away all vegetation in existence (it rose over 130 feet in some sections). Once we had almost made it to the supposed location of the next town, we hopped another small waterfall and rounded another unpromising corner to see only a gap. For about the length of a track, a secondary mudslide caused by the huge forest laceration made by the river's rise opened up to an impassible section of an unstable dirt cliff-face. We spent the next hour cautiously pressing up and around the empty gap in the forest in the ongoing rain. From there, we very quickly arrived in the next town, populated but in a state of emergency. Their supply of food had been entirely cut off, and reserves were running dangerously low. The following day, we were shown to a couple of provisional bridges that the locals had erected just two days before with some fallen logs and sticks. More treacherous than anything any of us had done, we inched along the sloped, wet logs that stretched over the intersection of two overflowing rivers. Later that day, a mile long mudslide had taken out another part of the trail, but this one was dry and had experienced some local foot traffic (there were no roads for the first four days of trekking). We got ahead that evening, and camped on a man's land high in the valley steeps who informed us that we had been the only group to travel the Salkantay Trek route for the entirety of the year 2020 (this was in March mind you). The next day of trekking was far longer than we had expected, but traveling alone through an ancient village to a phenomenal viewpoint of Machu Picchu made it worth it. We ended in with a beat arrival in Aguas Calientes, but that evening was full of celebration and restaurant food. Two of us woke up with food poisoning, and we decided to travel back to Cusco midday rather than in the evening. Upon arriving at our hostel, President Vizcarra came on the television to announce that Peru would close its airports in 24 hours. At the time of our departure in Soraypampa, the coronavirus had only spread widely in China and Italy, but when we got out, the internet flooded our phones with the reality of online classes, the spread of the virus into a pandemic, and the global closing of boarders. Panic-ridden, we awoke at 5 am to escape the claim that hostels and hotels would be locked from the outside by the police to force a 15-day quarantine period set by the Peruvian Government. We waited outside in the rain until the last flight to Lima departed with us onboard (our ticket had coincided with the last day of open airports by sheer luck). In Lima, we were locked in our friend's house, prevented from going outside by the fear of getting arrested by the endless number of police and military stationed on the streets of the city. Day after day passed, we played chess, meditated, and hoped for an email from the U.S. Embassy of Peru. Weeks passed, and the panic of my family was calmed by my less-bothered conscience. After daily reminders pointing towards the extension of our visit to Peru to months, the housing situation ended for two of us, and we ventured to a nearby hotel to wait out the rest of our stay in Lima. By some miracle, we were then put in touch with a DEA agent helping at the embassy (the DEA helped out because the chair of the embassy and many of his employees all fled back to the U.S. leaving thousands of citizens stranded for much longer). The person who aided us brought us to the embassy to get on a departing repatriation flight as standby passengers. In a rare moment of animation, my friend and I flew on an unfilled flight directly to Washington, D.C. Our trip had ended, but our quarantine in a very strange new world had just begun. I want to note that I skipped large swaths of experience to fit this shortened story into a mildly digestable piece. I also did not read through it yet so forgive any mistakes or sections lacking flow. -
2020-06-04
Senior Celebration
"I feel so bad about your senior year," and "I'm sorry your senior year was taken from you" were things I heard almost everyday from people. Honestly, I didn't care because it gave me a relaxing rest of the year because I decided to register for very rigorous courses. The school had been frantically trying to find something to do for the seniors to make senior year memorable without feeling disappointed. We didn't have prom or the senior trip where we go to Kings Dominion and then eat dinner on a cruise ship to go back to Baltimore. Like I said, I didn't mind that we didn't have these experiences, but I know there were a lot of disappointed people in my class. I knew it was going to be expensive and out of budget for me to go anyway. In May, I received an email from my school. It talked about how graduation was going to be and that there would be a bus parade for the senior students. I completely ignored it because I personally didn't want to go. I thought it would have been weird and not worth my time. A few days later my mom found out about the parade and was upset that I told her that I didn't feel like attending to it, and ended up making me go. When I got onto the bus I found out that two of my friends were on the bus which made it exciting for me. The bus only allowed 12 kids on it because of social distancing. We arrived at the school and waited for the parade to start. In between each school bus there was a firetruck or a cop car and they all turned on their sirens and honked their horns throughout the whole parade. There were so many people are parents on the streets of the small area my school district is in. I am glad I went to that and I honestly feel like this brought the community together during the uncertain times that the pandemic has brought to us. -
2020-09-20
From Ground Zero in Italy
My immediate family, sister and mother, live in the city of Albino, in the province of Bergamo, the hardest hit area in Italy. The rest of my family lives in Cremona, the second hardest hit area in Italy. My sister contracted the virus at the very beginning of the pandemic, sometime in February 2019. She locked herself up in her room for 6 weeks and eventually recovered. Six months later she still suffers from fatigue and on-and-off muscle pain. Two older relatives died of the virus. One was in a hospital for minor surgery he had postponed for a few months. When he finally decided to get it done, it was right at the beginning of the storm. He was infected and died in a matter of days. The second one was in assisted living. The angel of death glided over the facility and took more than two dozen residents with it. The most painful was the death of a high school friend, a family doctor in Como. He started seeing patients with strange symptoms. With no guidance and no information from the Health Dept, he kept doing his job. When he came down with the infection, the virus load was so high he only lasted a few days. My mother escaped the infection. She lives in the same building as my sister, but they didn't see each other for months. She lived alone like a recluse. Friends or relative would drop off food by her door, she would put out the garbage and that was it. In the meantime she kept hearing stories of people she had known for a lifetime who passed away "they are dropping like flies" she told me one day. She mentioned a famous poem by Italian poet Giuseppe Ungaretti, a poem he wrote while he was fighting in the trenches of World War I: "We are like leaves on a branch in autumn." I spent hours every day, sometimes several times a day for weeks, trying to console and give her courage. At a certain point I thought she was about to give up. She wasn't eating anymore, she was getting weaker and weaker, half asleep the whole day, awake in terror and sorrow at night. As to my life, it is similar to that of most of you. I live outside NY, my wife, two daughters and I managed with some adjustments in our routines. I avoided social networks like the plague (sorry for the metaphor), stayed away from the news and commentaries, focused on my teaching as much as possible, even took care of the backyard. Over the months, it was discouraging to the point of banging my head on my desk when I was watching Europe slowly getting control over the pandemic, while in the US we were and still are stumbling like blind morons, clueless and bamboozled by borderline criminal propaganda. I am not talking about all, of course. But it is frankly horrifying and terrifying to find out that 1 out of 2 people - more or less - I see in the streets live in a state of willful derangement, posing a danger to themselves (I could care less about them) but most of all to the rest of us. -
2020-03-19
A comparative evacuation
This is my own story of evacuating Malaysia in March due to covid-19 during my Fulbright grant. This story is important to me because, while I did not want to leave Malaysia, it is a humbling reminder of how privileged I am to have been able to evacuate somewhere when so many people throughout the world had no option but to stay put and brace themselves for the pandemic. -
2020-09-16
The Daily Commute
I composed this piece for my Painting I class around the start of the pandemic when everything was still surreal. If I did a piece on COVID now, it would be entirely different. Nevertheless, I think the general tone of this piece shows how I and most likely many others have experienced the pandemic. I decided to place this scene on the Subway since New York City was the epicenter of COVID-19, and like COVID, the Subway is known as "the great equalizer". The tightness of space on a subway also gives the feeling of being trapped, which has been a pretty universal feeling during this time, not to mention the acute awareness of germs that one has both on the subway and during COVID. I was also inspired by the art that came from the Black Plague depicting 'witch' doctors and skeletons and wanted the figures I painted to mimic that sense of doom. Each figure represents a different feeling or character that has solidified itself in our COVID centered lives. I am sure many people can relate to the shag of hair bent over a computer as we navigate online classes and jobs, or to the sympathetic limp glove that essential workers wear everyday, or to the three characters that both warn and frighten us. I hope that at the end of this pandemic we can look back to what has come out of peoples' restlessness and suffering, and resolve to live in care of others to prevent future tragedies. #ForhamUniveristy -
2020-08-22
“We are car”
This is a photo I took when my friends and I (a total of 3 of us) came together for the first time in 5 months. We had masks on and went to Mcdonalds on skateboards. Because of covid, mcdonalds only had a curbside pickup or drive thru. We decided to do curbside pickup so we didn’t get in the way of cars. We ordered online, stood in a parking spot and pretended to be a car. Hence our saying “we are car”. This photo shows how teens now persevere through these tough times while following corona regulations. -
2020-04-25
Did Cruise Companies Act too Late?
All it took was one passenger who disembarked a week before others began to fall ill, to quarantine all passengers and crew on the Diamond Princess by February 4th. Given the dire nature of these outbreaks, many have asked – did the cruise companies act too late? This Washington Post article outlines the experiences of the Celebrity Eclipse and Coral Princess, where before passengers could disembark, the two ships reported 150 Covid-19 cases and six deaths in April. At the time the article was written, the cruise industry reported outbreaks on 55 ships in waters across the globe and 65 deaths among passengers and crew. The article alleges that the industry failed to recognize the signs and symptoms of Covid-19, which later were confirmed as positive cases. Further concerning allegations from the article claim that cruise ships brought Covid-19 to ports and cities around the globe that were otherwise virus-free, where many places lacked the infrastructure to handle large-scale outbreaks. -
2020-08-07
CDC Rates Cruise Ships for Sanitation and Cleanliness
Cruise ships are bustling cities. Lido decks are a din of conversation over food, and while most cruise ships suspended buffets years ago, passengers still share access to, among others, refillable water stations, cookie baskets, and salt and pepper shakers. Tables are close together and guests stand closely in line. While hand sanitizer stations are dotted throughout common areas, cruise ships with so many people in such close quarters, are difficult places to prevent the spread of aerosol, airborne virus’ like Covid-19. Now that cruise ships, and world health organizations, have had time to assess the risk they are developing new protocols to help making cruising possible again when it is safe to do so. The United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention developed the Vessel Sanitation Program, which is now shifting to include Covid-19 health protocols. Ships receive a surprise inspection from the CDC where they evaluate the following areas: medial facilities, potable water systems, swimming pools and whirlpool spas, galleys and dining rooms, child activity centers, hotel accommodations, ventilation systems, and common areas of the ship. At The Points Guy blog, they outline how the program works and how future cruisers can use the CDC data to inform the health and safety of their future vacation. -
2020-07-27
Vacation during Covid-19
My friend Ramsey and I went to Florida during the Corona Virus and we had to wear masks everywhere we went, even on the airplane. -
2020-08-20
Face shields on public transportation
There's so much that Peru is doing right in terms of public health measures. This campaign is one more example, "Primero mi salud," (First my health), which is encouraging people to wear a mask and face shield on public transportation. The Ministry of Health has done a great job of creating campaigns and promoting sound public health measures. A commentator says...and people should wear them in markets, and everywhere, which is true. Infection rates will go down if more people follow these protocols. -
2020-08-05
Stuck on the Highway
This picture is significant to my COVID-19 experience in 2020 because it caused me to stay on the highway for approximately 3hrs. Due to new Covid laws usually when a high-tension wire hits the ground, they can find ways to get everyone away from the wire. However, since we have to stay 6 feet apart the cops and fire department couldn’t speak directly to everyone. We had to remain in our vehicles and just assume everything was going to be alright. This was my first time experiencing something like this. A lot of people couldn’t handle just sitting in their vehicles not having answers and so they turned around on the highway and tried to drive backwards to get off the road. -
2020-08-23
Plane Phobia
COVID-19 is something that will forever be engrained in our minds. It has impacted the world in ways only imaginable in apocalyptic movies. We as a society are differential in our cultures and ideas, but COVID-19 has brought us together. COVID-19 spread throughout the world at an alarming rate due to 21st century modes of rapid transportation (specifically airplanes). Normally, walking through an airport brings excitement and happiness, but tensions felt high travelling during this time. Excitement was replaced with anxiety, and happiness with cautiousness. For my addition to the Moakley Archive, I decided to include a photograph taken on a recent flight from Miami to Boston. More than half the seats were empty and I couldn’t help but notice how desolate the flight felt. 2020 has been an economic recession, and a social depression. Travelling will never be the same at least in this lifetime, and for many, flying will be a last resort. Nobody knows when COVID-19 will end, we are fighting a war with an invisible enemy taking one day at a time blindly. -
2020-03-17
The Big Flee
Early in the morning on March 17, my roommates and I fled San Francisco. It felt extremely weird leaving my life behind, but we would return to normal soon (or so I thought). As we piled our belongings into the back of a friend's car I looked around to see nobody. Not even an early morning jogger or any sign of life for that matter. In the airport we got through security in five minutes and saw around two others our whole time there. It was as if time had stood still in the city. At the time I was extremely scared, as what evils could cause a city-wide shutdown? How dangerous was CO-19 if all colleges had moved to online learning and forced every student out of the dorms? Little was known about the effects of CO-19 in March, and as I write this on August 23, 2020 more is yet to be discovered before we can safely reopen as a country. I chose to include this photo with my story as it was taken on March 16, 2020, the night before San Francisco's mandatory shutdown. It was eerie how silent the once bustling streets of downtown were. I had never witnessed something like this in my life. -
2020-03-18
An Empty Bridge
This is a picture of the Oakland Bridge in the Bay Area, California, while completely empty due to the initial Covid-19 lockdown. This bridge normally has thousands and thousands of people crossing it on any given day, and at any given moment it will typically be packed with commuters. In the photo, it's almost completely empty. This uncanny image was the first thing that made me, living in a city on the opposite side of the country, realize just how serious the virus would be. At this point in time, most of my friends and family still believed we would be going back to school within the month of March. It was unimaginable that we would still be dealing with the pandemic in August, when I am writing this, and that we probably will be dealing with this for the foreseeable future. The response to this pandemic was quite obviously botched by the US and its institutions that are supposed to protect us, and by the end of this hundreds of thousands of people will be dead as a result. I fear a lot of people in the future will blame this tragedy on everyday people's failure to lockdown, and I think this image serves as an essential reminder that when we were first told to lock down, the American people locked down. -
2020-08-03
Lost
Lost in a maze of traffic a day before the second wave of the Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine takes effect..stuck in traffic..outside my car window is a man on the sidewalk intently reading a magazine...he mirrors the state of the city before lockdown ..lost in COVID 19 statistics..we are all at a loss on how the gov’t handles the pandemic. -
2020-04-19
Emptiness Around Us: Empty Bus
A CDTA bus pulling up to a bus stop on State Street in Downtown Albany, NY in late April. All riders were required to wear masks, and there were barely any riders on the bus. Its electronic sign reads, “STOP THE SPREAD.” -
2020-07-20
My Experience Flying During the Covid-19 Pandemic
This is specifically about my experience flying domestically to another state. -
April 16, 2020
My Package Delivery time (on top of the month it took for it to get to the US)
I had a package forwarded from the RIT campus post office and with the postal delays it’s taking even longer to get to me. I honestly don’t even know what the package is for anymore because things that I ordered back in December still haven’t shipped yet. -
2020-03-24
Virginia School teacher hugs student goodbye before school closures – Henrico County, Virginia
Sara Black, a teacher at Glen Lea Elementary School is shown hugging students before they board a school bus. Due to school closures for at least 14 days, it is assumed that she is saying goodbye as they are unsure when they will see each other in person again. -
2020-03-28
Penn Station
The photo was taken when I went back to Brooklyn. The number of travelers was fewer than 10 people. Lots of homeless people were staying inside. Most of the exits were closes. Very empty inside the train station.